Author Michael Lewis garners a lot of attention for the release today of FLASH BOYS (including this excerpt in the NYT Magazine). He tells NY Magazine he finished the manuscript two months ago. “Lewis says he turned down large advances to remain with his longtime editor, Norton head Starling Lawrence, and for his last two books, he’s taken no book advance at all. ‘I like the risk,’ he says. ‘Most writers treat their publishers as banks — very expensive banks. Norton is owned by its employees, and I feel sometimes responsible for their financial well-being. When they give me a bunch of money it’s even worse.‘” Amazon Studios has ordered a full […]
Authors
Clinton Shares Book Lessons, Advocates for First Book
In advance of the June 1 publication of her still untitled new memoir, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton provided a slightly delayed closing keynote address at the AAP annual meeting on Wednesday. As Secretary Clinton made clear (and Carolyn Reidy confirmed), she writes her books herself — in longhand — and has already written many versions, but not the final one, of her June book. (Before closing her address Clinton suggested that S&S “is going to get very nervous about whether I can meet my next deadline” if she spoke too long; Reidy said she has “now read several […]
Briefs: Trudeau Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison; Carnegie & Greenaway Awards Shortlists; and More
Allen Guelzo has won the inaugural Guggenheim-Lehrman Prize in Military History for GETTYSBURG: The Last Invasion (Knopf). The $50,000 prize was announced Monday night at a ceremony held at the New-York Historical Society. The Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medal shortlists were announced this morning, with the winners to be named on June 23. Anne Fine, Rebecca Stead, and Susan Cooper landed on the Carnegie list, while Jon Klassen appears twice on the Greenaway shortlist for THIS IS NOT MY HAT and THE DARK (text by Lemony Snicket). Onetime bestselling weight-loss “guru” and infomercial staple Kevin Trudeau was sentenced to 10 […]
Pastor Mark Driscoll Apologizes for Using Result Source to Manipulate Bestseller Lists
You may have already been following the story in which it was revealed earlier this month that Result Source was hired by the Mars Hill Church in Seattle to manipulate bestseller lists on behalf on their Pastor Mark Driscoll’s book REAL MARRIAGE (co-authored with his wife). At first, a church spokesman defended the move: “Mars Hill has made marketing investments for book releases and sermon series, along with album releases, events, and church plants, much like many other churches, authors, and publishers who want to reach a large audience. We will explore any opportunity that helps us to get that message […]
Saunders Wins Inaugural Folio Prize; American Academy Winners; and More
George Saunders has won the first Folio Prize for TENTH OF DECEMBER, just a week after winning the Story Prize. (The collection also garnering a National Book Award nomination last fall.) Folio Prize chair Lavinia Greenlaw said in the announcement: “Saunders’s stories are both artful and profound. Darkly playful, they take us to the edge of some of the most difficult questions of our time and force us to consider what lies behind and beyond them. Unflinching, delightful, adventurous, compassionate, he is a true original whose work is absolutely of the moment.” In other awards news, the American Academy of […]
People, Awards, Etc.
Julia Kardon joins Mary Evans as a foreign rights director and agent. Previously she was an agent at Sterling Lord Literistic. At Hachette Book Group, Sophie Cottrell has been promoted to svp, corporate communications. Amanda Englander has joined Clarkson Potter and Potter Style as associate editor. Previously she was an editorial assistant at Grand Central. At Chronicle Books, Ben Laramie has been promoted to senior industrial designer; April Whitney moves up to senior publicist, Entertainment; and Lisa Tauber has been promoted to associate editor. Bloomsbury UK’s director of trade marketing and publicity Katie Bond has “taken voluntary redundancy and [is] […]